2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
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Paul has written this to those persons who are sanctified in Christ Jesus (The Word).
(sanctified: those who have their godliness and holiness in Christ Jesus, The Word)
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A great many in churches today are sanctified in themselves, in what they do by "going forward" and being baptized and attending church and giving money.
But we who are called by God have been given the Holy Spirit by God, and set in the body of Christ, and hear from God by HIS Spirit, are sanctified in The Word of God, in Christ Jesus who is The Word.
I Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Our "holiness" is in Christ, The Word and that which God speaks to us by HIS Spirit. We are godly through the Word as we conform to the Word, doing the Word.
The others are sanctified through going to church. They are sanctified through other men. But the Word of God is not their joy and redemption and restoration and life.
Their life is in their church building and in their ministers and in the people who attend their church.
Our life is in God and Christ Jesus, The Word.
They worship their church.
We worship God and The Word of God and we are led by the Spirit of God who dwells in us.
There is a vast difference.
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God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit speak to those who are called and sanctified by HIM.
I Corinthians 1
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
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We worship God in Spirit and in truth by hearing what God says and following HIM, doing HIS instructions.
They follow their own flesh and what seems right in their own eyes.
Often they have a form of godliness, attending church buildings and even reading portions of the Bible. But they do these things by their own will and by the will of other men without hearing from God.
We are born again by God by His Spirit, even given a new heart and a new Spirit.
They are born of their own fleshly will of man and of the will of other men.
We hear from God and please God.
They please other men, saying and doing things which humans think to be "good".
We are saints of God.
They are "good" in the eyes of men.
Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
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John 4 Jesus says: God is a Spirit: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in spirit and in truth.
They worship that which they can see with their natural eyes: Church buildings, crosses, people who attend their church, and their pastors and other ministers.
They have a form of godliness. But they deny the power of God (the Holy Spirit who works in the believer.)
2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
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They learn with their own mind and by the mind of others, but they are not led by God and the Spirit.
I Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
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John 3 Jesus says:
3 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
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When God speaks to us and causes us to be born by the Spirit of God, we are completely changed instantly.
Ezekiel 36: (God says)
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put MY spirit within you, and cause you to walk in MY statutes, and ye shall keep MY judgments, and do them.
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2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
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Ephesians 4
1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
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